Submissions

Why publish with Lund University Press?

be a guarantee for high scholarly quality thanks to stringent peer reviewing

achieve high international visibility and global dissemination for Lund research through collaboration with Manchester University Press

fulfil the demand of research-funding bodies, as well as national and international agencies, for the publication of Open Access content

publish first-class books on ‘niche’ topics

provide editorial support and informed professional advice through a local office, minimizing the frustration often experienced by authors dealing with larger presses

liberate authors from the need to chase funding for publication (but see below under ‘Financial aspects’)

engage authors with the design and production of their books

work to ensure that books published by LU Press will always be available, digitally and in print, whatever the vicissitudes in the academic book market of the future.

When should I contact Lund University Press?

Lund University Press only awards contracts for complete manuscripts, but we are happy to look at and provide feedback on proposals and potential projects. Our partner Manchester University Press will offer support and advice on book proposals in English. Such consultation may supply valuable guidance during the writing process.

Press the button called ‘The publishing process’ for further information.

What should I submit?

We require a complete typescript, both on hard copy and in digital format (to be emailed as one document). This should be submitted to the LU Press Director, Professor Marianne Thormählen. The hard copy is handed in or sent to her at Lund University Press, Kansli HT, LUX, hämtställe 30 (postal address Box 192, SE-221 00 LUND). Emailed material is sent to Marianne.Thormahlen@englund.lu.se. In addition to the script, please send a short CV, a list of your publications and a presentation of your work (both hard copy and emailed files), all in English. The presentation must contain the following:

a provisional title

a brief summary (no more than 300 words) of your book

information about the length of the manuscript, in words, and a table of contents

information about the intended readership and market for your book

a comparison with existing, and competing, books on your subject

a statement, in no more than 150 words, about the importance of your book.

All this information will be needed by the Editorial Committee that makes the decision to send your book out to peer review, alternatively to reject it. As LU Press will often consult Manchester University Press before making a decision, and as we may also wish to consult scholars who do not understand Swedish, the CV, list of publications and book presentation have to be in English. (You may be able to obtain translations free of charge via Lund University’s internal translation service.)

A CV and list of publications must also accompany a book proposal, and the proposal itself must contain all the items listed above.

Your CV must contain information as to whether your current position at Lund University is a permanent one. If it is not, information as to when your employment is due to expire must be submitted. LU Press is not permitted to pay for the dissemination of research by academics who are not employees of Lund University.

If you are an editor rather than an author, you need to demonstrate the projected book’s value as an integrated volume of consistently high quality which is more than the sum of its parts.

A few hints on putting together an effective book presentation

Do be clear about why it is essential that your work is sent out to a global audience. Self-promotion does not come easily to most of us, but this is your book you are promoting, not yourself, and you owe it to your years of hard work to make the strongest case you can for its publication. Who will read this book, and why?

When the Editorial Committee makes its decision, the most fundamental question is whether the projected volume constitutes original scholarly research which makes a significant contribution to existing knowledge. Do not waste time and space explaining your theoretical and methodological stance; our peer reviewers will tell us all we need to know about that. What matters is what you have to say and your ability to say it well.

Financial aspects

LU Press authors do not normally have to secure publishing grants; LU Press expects to cover the costs of translation, language editing, and production out of its own budget. However, books longer than 100,000 words (about 230 pages of print) will normally only be considered if the extra expense involved in translating/editing/printing them is covered by other means, and that normally requires the author to obtain a publishing grant or grants.

The translation and publication of a 100,000-word book originally written in Swedish usually costs something in the neighbourhood of SEK 250,000, peer-review included. The longer the text, the more expensive the book will be to produce. Swedish academics in the Humanities and Theology have usually been brought up to admire the Big Book, and this attitude dies hard. But the extra cost of bringing out a weighty tome may prove prohibitive. At the very least, authors should try to slim and trim their MSS.

LU Press authors will not receive royalties for the first 1,000 copies sold. As few scholarly books achieve such sales figures (even at the major international presses), the question of royalties will usually never arise. If it does, royalties will be paid by LU Press, which will share the royalties paid by Manchester UP to LU Press with the author. The sums involved will be modest at the best of times. Publishing with a world-leading press normally generates negligible income for an author, whose earnings from the publisher’s receipts will be between 5 and 10 per cent depending on the number of copies sold. Hence, waiving royalties for the first 1,000 copies will not make much difference to the author while doing much to limit the publisher’s administrative expenses.

In most cases, research libraries will buy a printed copy of a book even when it is published Open Access. If the book is reasonably priced, scholars who find they need it may well decide to purchase it for themselves, rather than keep consulting it online or making bulky printouts.

For this reason, LU Press strives to keep prices of its books at affordable levels. This usually entails soft-cover production, but exceptions may be made in cases where hardbacks are distinctly preferable. An author will receive 10 free copies of his/her book on publication and be able to obtain more from Manchester UP at a reduced rate.

LU Press urges prospective authors to include funding for publication purposes when applying for external research grants. As a rough guide, a 100,000-word book may be expected to cost SEK 140,000 to translate; in the case of a manuscript originally written in English, expert language editing may be expected to cost SEK 40,000. Simultaneous Open-Access and print publication costs approx. SEK 90,000 for a book of that length.